The Rise of Big Data and the Loss of Privacy

Anca D. Chirita, Lecturer in Competition Law (Dr. iur.), Durham University, UK. Earlier drafts of this article benefited from insightful suggestions and comments from the attendees of the 15th Conference of the International Association of Consumer Law organised by the Amsterdam Centre for the Study of European Contract Law on a presentation entitled ‘Consumer Rights, Misleading Advertising and Privacy in the Digital Age’ in June 2015; LLM students taking a research-led competition-law seminar at Durham University in March 2016; the Durham Law School Staff Seminar Series 2015/2016 in May 2016, with special thanks to Aoife O’Donoghue, Se-Shauna Wheatle, Annika Jones, Johanna Jacques, Andrés Delgado Casteleiro, Henry Jones and Professors Thom Brooks and John Linarelli; and the attendees of the conference on ‘Personal Data in Competition, Consumer Protection and IP Law: Towards a Holistic Approach’ at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich in October 2016, in particular to Beatriz Conde Gallego and Gintare Surblyte. The chapter is dedicated to my sister, Andra Chirita, an IT developer, in loving memory.